UK Closes Migrant Agriculture Workers Scheme

Business | September 13, 2013, Friday // 11:58
Bulgaria: UK Closes Migrant Agriculture Workers Scheme Foreign workers harvesting lettuce in the Lincolnshire Fens, England. Photo by Rex Features/ The Guardian.

The UK cabinet has decided to terminate a long-lasting program for foreign seasonal workers in the agricultlure sector.

The move has raised strong concern among British fruit and vegetable producers, who have warned it will cause drastic raise of agricultural products prices, reports the Guardian.

The government's decision is motivated by a desire to stimulate the employment of British workers.

The migrant workers scheme is estimated to have brought around 21,000 Bulgarians and Romanians to Britain per year.

The National Farmers' Union has warned that the decision will put thousands of existing UK jobs at risk and have a devastating impact on the horticulture sector in Britain, writes the Guardian.

Others have claimed that fruit- and vegetable-picking jobs would prove unattractive to local workers.

The 60-year-old scheme is estimated to have been providing one third of Britain's seasonal agricultural workforce.

The UK is to lift work restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians starting January 1, 2014, a move that has provoked some controversy in Britain.

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Tags: UK, Britain, british, agriculture, migrant, Romanians, Bulgarians, jobs, jobs

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